What To Eat Before Getting Pregnant?

When talking about to what to eat before getting pregnant, you can be sure that nutrition affects the functionality of the entire organism. What you eat, and especially how much you eat can affect the ability of conceiving.

What to Eat before Getting Pregnant?

Eat in Colors of Green, Red & Yellow

Nature is a rich source of multivitamins. Fruits and vegetables are rich in vitamins, minerals or free radicals (antioxidants). That`s why, take your nutritional portions from berries, red pepper and salads, because the more colorful is the fruit or vegetable that you are eating, the more vitamins and nutritional substances that your organism needs you`ll receive. We recommend you to eat 2 or 3 bowls of fresh fruits and vegetables daily before pregnancy.

Increase the Amount of Iron

Before getting pregnant, it`s essential to increase your iron reserves, especially if you have an abundant menstruation. Through the monthly blood lost, there`s a significant amount of iron lost. You should take into account if you are considering of conceiving a child.

Decreasing the iron amount before getting pregnant may lead to various complications, like anemia, an illness which is manifested through a drastic decrease of erythrocytes. If you don`t consume red meat or follow a vegan diet, you can supplement the iron intake with multivitamins enriched with multivitamins. It`s advisable to do some blood tests, which are specific to the level of iron in the bloodstream before conception.

Diet Rich in Proteins

Nutritionists say that there isn`t a connection of causality between the hyperprotective and infertility. However, before conception, you should avoid the consumption of a single type of food or excluding others. Thus, food shouldn`t be lacking, and it`s recommended to eat at least 100 g of proteins per day, which should include nuts, various vegetables, fish and lean meat.

Portions of Vitamins

The necessary of nutrients that you need before pregnancy is pretty hard to get only from foods. However, a vitamin cure will solve this deficiency. It`s good to know the necessary amounts of each vitamin in order for the cure to have a good action.

The maximum allowable dose of vitamin A is of 0.7 mg/day, if it`s not under the form of beta-carrotene, because excess of vitamin A may lead to malformations to the fetus. However, foods that contain vitamin A shouldn`t be avoided – the amount of vitamin A is very small in them.

Look for multivitamins that contain at least 0.4 mg of folic acid. This vitamin helps in developing the neural tube in children (which will then differentiate his nervous system) and will protect it a serious abnormality, known as spina bifida. It`s good for the vitamin to be taken right before pregnancy, because the neural tube in the fetus will start to be formed even in the 3<sup>rd</sup> or 4<sup>th</sup> week of pregnancy, when some women don`t realize that they are pregnant.

Look for products that contain vitamin B12. This vitamin also has a role in developing the nervous system in the child and, generally, it`s found in preparations of meat. The B12 supplement is recommended to be taken especially by future mothers who follow a vegetarian diet.

Things to Avoid while Trying to Get Pregnant

Stay Away from Eating for 2 People!

Doctors claim that a careful eating during pregnancy is a lot more healthy than “eating for 2.” The first major lesson that is learned at courses for raising children is that women who try to lose weight in an active way have all the chances to have an easy pregnancy and healthy child.

While on the other hand, all women who gain weight during pregnancy, experts claim that too much extra weight increases the risk of developing high blood pressure and gestational diabetes.

The review, published by the Cochrane Library, brought new evidence from 37 studies that were published even since 2012. While analyzing the review, it was noticed that only 36% from all women gained too much extra weight compared with 45% who didn`t take any measures to control their weight gain.

Be Aware at the Listeria Infection!

Listeria is a bacteria that can be found in most semi-preparations, melted cheeses or unpasteurized products. Pregnant women are most prone to this kind of infection, this leading to miscarriage even from the first trimester of pregnancy. But women who try to conceive aren`t safe of this kind of infection either.

To prevent this type of contamination, foods need to be prepared at a high temperature, and need to be kept in the refrigerator at a temperature of 4° C or even lower.

Get rid of foods that you kept for more than 2 hours at the room`s temperature. It`s best to avoid non-heat-treated fish (smoked fish), melted cheese made of unpasteurized milk or other unpasteurized products.

Be Careful to Fish!

Your body needs omega 3 acids, which have a beneficial role for fertility, and which we especially find in fish. A reason for concern is represented by poisoning with fish meat, which causes women not to consume it before or during pregnancy.

Mercury may remain in the blood even for a whole year and has a toxic action on the neurological development of the fetus. The good news is that not all fish contain the same amount of mercury. Nutritionists say that the least mercury amount can be found in tuna, cod, shrimp, pangassius and salmon. – Learn more!

Vegetarians or women who don`t like fish can try flax seeds, which are a rich source of omega 3 acids. The seeds are pricked and sprinkled into food, usually in yogurt or cereals with milk. Flaxseed oil can also be used, added in a teaspoon in salads, French fries or on other vegetables. Don`t fry flaxseed oil to avoid losing its nutritional properties!

Stay Away from Vices

Maybe until now, you could have smoked a cigarette or drank a bottle of wine or a cup of coffee every now and then. You should say no to cigarettes or alcohol from now on. You should also give up drinking coffee. Although, there isn`t clear evidence on the effects of caffeine during conception, experts advise removing it from the daily diet or reducing it to 300 mg/day.

Research & Scientific Studies

They say that “you are what you eat,” but it seems that what your mother ate is also important. Specialists has made a connection between the woman`s diet before she was pregnant and the health (on the long term) of the future baby. What he ate during the weeks that led to the conception may affect even the risk for the child to get certain diseases, which may vary from the flu, HIV or cancer.

It`s believed that the theory comes from the specialists from the School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in London, UK. They are firm when claiming that the diet the mother follows before conception is essential. – Check this link!

Professor Andrew Prentice, the study`s author says: “The potential implications are enormous.” His colleague, Dr. Matt Silver claims: “This means that once you know you are pregnant, stop behaving as you would normally do.”

A Study Done in West Africa

In West Africa is known that diets vary drastically from one season to another. There have been 120 women from the rural areas studied, where diets are radically changed in the wet season compared with the dry season. Half of the women have conceived babies in the dry season and the other half in the wet season. Researchers began their study by measuring the nutrients from the blood of the women shortly after they gave birth.

Then, after birth, all new mothers have received a DNA test. The tests wasn`t based on the genetic code itself, but rather on the epigenetic alterations and on the signs that affect how and when a gene becomes active. The very active genes or the more “lazy” ones can cause health problems.

For instance, at the VTRINA2-1 gene the signs are set during the first days of the baby`s life. The genes are extra-active at the children conceived during the dry season, when there`s plenty of food to be found. In their very active state, the genes protect against cancer. When they are less active, meaning at the children conceived during the wet season, the organism considers that is easier to get rid of the viruses from the flu and abdominal pains until HIV.

Some Infections Can Be More Dangerous than Cancer

With the discovery of infections, in Africa has been discovered something more dangerous than cancer, detailed in the “Genome Biology” journal, this could explain why children from Gambia conceived during the dry season have the tendency to die young. – Visit this web link!

The nutrients through which it`s known they are involved in setting the signs are vitamin B2, methionine, folic acid and dimethylglycine. Other good sources exclude eggs, cereals, fish, liver, beans or vegetables with green leaves.